<p>Parents' for the win!</p>
<p>I can't remember what I put, but smilingsuzy seems to know her stuff, so I'll go with parents' as well.</p>
<p>i still think it's "parent's". if you think about pronunciation, you wouldn't say "parentses", which is what "parents'" would sound like. you would say each "parents", which is "parent's". if you were to substitute "one" for "parent", you would say each "one's", which would sound like "ones" obviously. you wouldn't say "ones'", which would sound like "oneses." each implies a singular noun, so you would use the singular "parent's".</p>
<p>another example is:
The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody are singular and require singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.<br>
Examples Each of the girls sings well.
essentially, you should remove the prepositional phrase to figure out what each is modifying. in the case of the parents, each is modifying parents. therefore, you should use the singular possessive of parent, which is parent's.</p>
<p>golfer, because you said, "each of the girls," you conceded that the object following "each" must be plural. can you think of an instance where it isn't? you can never say each of the boat or each of the girl. </p>
<p>and suzy, you seem to know what you're talking about, but i'm going to send the author of the grammar mistakes thing an email just to clarify.</p>
<p>I remember putting parents'. Everyone keeps talking about the curve on this April Test. What is the average curve? Does anyone know the highest ever curve?</p>
<p>golfer_008
im pretty sure ur dumb</p>
<p>why is it that 2 posts above urs is a post by golfer<em>08 from south dakota
and ur Golfer</em>008 from North Dakota</p>
<p>^^^...Hm....and Golfer_008 has 1 post...Kinda fishy...but I don't wanna jump to conclusions.</p>
<p>I am going to consult with my English teacher. The parents'/parent's debate has been bothering me for days.</p>
<p>what i'm saying with the example of "each of the girls" is that they use the singular verb "sings". each implies singular.</p>
<p>i think i know who the golfer_008 is. are you by chance from bismarck?</p>
<p>golfer_08 - that's for verbs, not with apostrophes.</p>
<p>Yes, you do know me golfer_08, and yes I am from Bismarck. </p>
<p>"why is it that 2 posts above urs is a post by golfer<em>08 from south dakota
and ur Golfer</em>008 from North Dakota" I think you're retarded BIGTWIX. Im not golfer_08 who is talking to himself via the internet. It's obviously two different people. Wow, there are many people from North and South Dakota. I just picked a very similar name.</p>
<p>Golfer, I don't need you to lecture me on English pronunciation. Pronunciation is irrelevant here; pronunciation does not dictate proper grammar.
Your reasoning is flawed. (By the way, " parents' " would be pronounced "parents.")</p>
<p>"Each of the girls sings well."
"Each of my parents' backyards IS pretty." (arbitrary adjective at the end)</p>
<p>What you say applies ONLY to subject-verb agreement. The parents' thing does not have anything to do with that.</p>
<p>I repeat: the word "each" implies singular VERBS. " Parents' " is NOT a verb!</p>
<p>The preposition phrase IS "of my parents' backyards." There are no verbs in the prepositional phrase, so subject-verb agreement is irrelevant in the prepositional phrase.</p>
<p>I'll put it into a sentence: "Each (one) of my parents' backyards is pretty."</p>
<p>You would not say "Each one's backyard" because the sentence in question contains a prepositional phrase, of which " parents' " is a part. You must consider the prepositional phrase because the adjective " parents' " resides there.</p>
<p>Since you brought up putting in pronouns, we'll do that:
Each of their backyards is pretty.[parents']
Each of his backyards is pretty. [parent's]</p>
<p>The passage implied that there were two parents, two backyards. Not one parent, two backyards. Hence, parents'.</p>
<p>People, read my posts and you will find good, cogent grammatical reasoning. This subject-verb agreement/ pronunciation argument is irrelevant to the sentence in question. If you don't understand/believe my grammar, at least rest assured that this is coming from someone who gets either 1 or 0 wrong on every ACT English test.</p>
<p>One more thing...</p>
<p>You cannot say "Each parent's/parents' backyards" because that would be leaving out only half of the prepositional phrase.
If you removed the prepositional phrase from "each of my parents' backyards is pretty," you would have "Each is pretty." This is why subject-verb agreement does not affect the prepositional phrase.</p>
<p>The verb does not affect whether you use parent's or parents'.</p>
<p>Okay, another thing...</p>
<p>Golfer_08: You seem to claim that " parents' " is not a legitimate possessive construction. Well, it is. If you'd like me to teach you the basic rules of apostrophes, please PM me; I'd be glad to enlighten you. In fact, I'm sure many of the members here could help.</p>
<p>My mother and father's house has three bedrooms.
My parents' house has three bedrooms.</p>
<p>You cannot substitute the word "one" for parents. Why? Because "one" is singular and "parents" is plural. The passage indicated that there were two parents (hence, plural...and plural possessive).</p>
<p>I'll say once more: "each" is singular and requires a singular verb, but it does not affect the prepositional phrase.</p>
<p>You can't base your answer choice on pronunciation; that's how ACT tries to trick you!
If we followed pronunciation, then the following sentence would be acceptable: I could of eaten the food.</p>
<p>But I'd hate for my admittedly redundant posts to hijack this thread. Golfer: If you'd like to debate this further, please PM me or even IM me. Forum chat is too inefficient.</p>
<p>Try using child and children instead of parent/parents:</p>
<p>In each of the child's backyards
(the child has two backyards)
vs.
in each of the children's backyards
Bunch of children with a bunch of backyards)</p>
<p>Yep. What Smilingsuzy said.</p>
<p>My experience with the test was mainly positive. There were some math problems that I wasn't sure about, and the rolling-a-soda-can problem just annoyed me... but I thought that the essay topic was amazingly easy. I usually really struggle with timed essays... but I managed to write a pretty solid five paragraph essay. I was happy =)</p>
<p>I somehow did an even 25 on all sections...next time ill study i guess.</p>
<p>How did you see your scores already..? I didnt think they came out until tomorrow..</p>
<p>haha yeah ***</p>